Sotomayor: GOP dilemma

While the party’s radical right has opened fire on Judge Sotomayor, President Obama’s bold political stroke in the historic nomination of her as the first Latina women to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court has racial and gender consequences…
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Petraeus gets it right

General David Petraeus, hailed by the conservative right as the preeminent military figure of his generation, said that President Obama’s decision to close down Gitmo and end harsh interrogations would benefit the U.S. in the broader war on terror.

Sotomayor tapped by Obama

The President today made history in naming Sonia Sotomayor, of Puerto Rican descent, born in the Bronx, and a judge in the federal appeals court in New York, as his nominee to succeed retiring Justice David H. Souter on…
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No surprise: Feinstein’s out

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has finally said that “it’s very unlikely” that she’ll seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year. While stopping short of saying “no” to the San Francisco Chronicle her message was quite clear.

Meltdown begins: seeing red

The crushing defeat Tuesday of five of the six budget-balancing proposals backed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders will be a major story about cuts and layoffs for a long time.

Angry voters blame Sacramento

The LA Weekly is brutal: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to the lay the biggest ballot-box egg of his career, even worse than the failure of his disastrous 2005 Year of Reform propositions. Veteran Fresno Bee columnist Jim…
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Obama’s Bombshell: Huntsman

Liberal Democrats have begun to fear the worst: Barack Obama on the campaign trail was beginning to appear different than the candidate they cheered on to a landslide victory. Instead, they whisper, and the media reports, the president is…
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Obama and Notre Dame - I

For sectarian Catholics, as America, the Jesuit weekly noted, it is not adherence to the church’s doctrine on the evil of abortion that counts for orthodoxy, but adherence to a particular political program and fierce opposition to any program…
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The Manny Chronicles

When Major League Baseball suspended the Los Angeles Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez for 50 games last week for the use of a banned substance, manager Joe Torre expressed disappointment, but strong support for his return while dismissing his behavior…
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Who’s sorry now?

You wonder what the man who once called himself a “Kennedy Democrat” is thinking. Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), facing a serious reelection challenge and nudged by the White House, switched parties. From there it’s all gone down hill.

Governor targets firefighters

Arnold Schwarzenegger, with polls indicating California voters may reject key ballot measures in the May 19 special election, has threatened the unthinkable: eliminating over 1,700 state firefighting positions and closing scores of fire stations just as another major fire…
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Blue Plymouth

Calbuzz, a welcome new blog published by veteran former California political editors Jerry Roberts (SF Chronicle) and Phil Trounstine (San Jose Mercury News), has an amusing tale about the state owned 1974 blue Plymouth which Attorney General Jerry Brown…
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Read ‘em and weep

Mark Penn, the relentless chief strategist for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign, has come up with a piece of fantasy speculation about the outcome of the 2008 Democratic primary race almost a year late.

Wake-up call

Stunned Republicans, responding to Arlen Specter’s return to the Democratic Party, have begun a sweeping debate about their future. The pivotal issue is whether to embrace traditional conservative roots or widen their appeal to attract more moderates as a…
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